Many new homes and other building structures are being constructed with aluminum or vinyl siding as an outer overlay. Most of these structures are provided with one or more outdoor fixtures to serve both functional and decorative purposes. More specifically, outside lights at various positions around the periphery of the structure are used for both safety and convenience to illuminate the surrounding area at night. Doorbells are often tastefully presented by an attractive mounting on the wall of a house next to the door thereof. Many homeowners choose to have the house number and/or name of the occupant attractively displayed on the side of the house.
In addition, exhaust vents for certain appliances that emerge from within the building structure are often attractively presented with a mounting cover, as are outside electrical outlets. Fixtures of these types are generally attached to the building structure by means of a mounting bracket.
Prior art brackets have generally been composed of a cover plate on which the fixture is presented and a back plate that is attached to the wall sheathing of the structural framework. In order to connect the fixture to the electrical circuit inside the building or direct the vent tube to the outside of the building, a section of siding must be cut out to provide an area for the wiring or vent tube to extend through the wall sheathing to the mount position.
It can be appreciated that the gap in the siding provides a site for the introduction of fluids to the wall sheathing and subsequently to the inside of the building. More specifically, the gap cut in the siding interrupts its protective integrity. Furthermore, the structural positioning of the cover plate relative to the back plate creates a channel closely adjacent to the siding for downwardly cascading fluid such as rainwater. These conditions operate together to threaten damage to the structural framework of the building.
This significant concern has not previously been addressed within the construction industry. To the inventors' knowledge, no one has thought to create a means to direct downwardly cascading water away from the building wall in the area of the cut in the siding.
Previous attempts have been made to design a mounting bracket with a cover plate that may be positionally adjusted with respect to the building wall by providing predetermined locking positions for the cover plate relative to the back plate. While this form of bracket may be used with a variety of types of siding, it does not ensure flush engagement between the cover plate and siding. Thus, this bracket design does not minimize the width of the channel created between the cover plate and back plate through which water may flow.